And That was the Week That Was...

image; unknown...sorry...

....Good Grief, where did it go?!

Pardon my sporadic blogging nature of late, there have been many positive developments in rehab-land which has meant that I have been needed at the hospital far more.

Today L'Homme's occupational therapist comes to look at Chez Trbuhovich to see what modifications will be needed before he comes home. A very exciting step indeed. Yes, it is a long road, but I can't help thinking how different this story could've been...

Kate James, who we have worked with in the past and has since become a dear friend (don't you love when that happens?) wrote a beautiful blog post over the weekend regarding our situation - her take on it. You can read it here.

Wishing you a wonderful week, thanks for your love and support; I feel surrounded by it.

So fortunate.

Guest Post; Michelle Belle Tumbles 4

Derouet and Fromentier, Jus D’Orange, printed c. 1960; stephan t for galerie montmartre
So, MB has decided that the colour orange is the focus on our tumblr blog this week. She thinks it's a little indecisive....just like our country's voting efforts, where we all dashed off to the polls this last Saturday and still don't know who will be leading our country!

Time for some vitamin C to get us moving....take it over from here Ms. Belle...

An orange juice in the morning… a day full of spirit and vigour. Yes please! This fellow springs straight from his bed to his Jus D’Orange, no time to even change from his striped pyjamas.
Edgard Derouet (1905-2001) and Paul Fromentier (1914-1981) teamed up to create a number of poster designs in the 1940s, 50s and 60s. And what a team they made! The contrast in colour, the movement, and the ORANGE-ness of the juicy orange…. BEAUTIFUL!

Group Hug

I am currently cleaning up my laptop, freeing it from the virtual pictures I gather. I don't know what your criteria is for saving an image, mine is simple, if I look twice and swoon a little then 'bang', into the files it goes. So, as a result, I have stacks of pictures completely unrelated.

However, I have noticed that I love images of similar things grouped together. Everytime I'd come across a picture of like-items in a group - during my 'clean up' session - I'd let out a deep sigh! I'm a bit nuts like that...here is a tiny sample.

images; 1. galmont; 2. here; 3. here; 4. here; 5. here; 6. here; 7. here; 8. here; 9. here; 10. here

Marvellous Monday!

image; jeunesse au plein air - la sauterelle by herve morvan, 1973; michelle belle for galmont

What a difference a sleep-in and a sunny morning can make....also rereading beautiful birthday facebook messages and putting away birthday gifts can't hurt....
I think spring is on it's way in old Melbourne town. So exciting!
How beautiful is this vintage poster, one of a series we have at Galerie Montmartre, encouraging children to get out in the fresh air? Hope you get a chance to do this today, wherever you are - have a great week. x

ZZZzzzzz....Party is Over

image; une nuit by bernard villemot, 1973; stephan t for galerie montmartre

It's sleepy Friday, people! This old girl kicked up her heels yesterday to celebrate another year of life and is feeling a tiny bit lethargic as a result.
I overindulged. I was spoilt rotten. I ate and drank like I was never going to do either again! I partied with friends. I got home very late to find chocolate cupcakes, flowers and cards waiting for me. I really felt like a very fortunate woman.
An extra lovely surprise came early in the morning - L'Homme sang to me over the phone, word-perfect, and in a completely recognisable voice. That was my birthday gift right there; a perfect way to start the day.....so obviously I needed to get out and celebrate and I did it in style, you would've been proud!!
So not much happening here, but Michelle Belle our Assistant Extraordinaire has posted my favourite (and final) of her guest blogging posts over at The Design Files - do have a look, it's all about the French obsession with advertising and how many of their products are depicted in our vintage posters. The photos are magnifique!

A million thank yous for my birthday greetings; I say it time and again, I love this blogging life.

Have a great weekend, friends, I'll see you next week. x

Happy Birthday to Me!

It's my birthday today! Being a feisty Leo means birthdays are usually week long celebrations, but of course, this year is slightly different. I'm not entirely sure what to expect...


....usually there is the opening of gifts, of which the Petits are very able and enthusiastic assistants. Then I take the day off and do whatever I want (ie. wandering Melbourne CBD alone and indulging my taste for the finer things in life - ahem, supposedly another Leo trait) meeting L'Homme at a fancy restaurant for dinner and one champagne too many. Oh yes, I love me a birthday, even though I'm racking up the years!

Obviously there is a chance the day could be a bit sad, because L'Homme is fighting his way out of rehab and is unable to join in the festivities. But I am doing what I can to celebrate - that's what we both want. It's important to me that I don't try anything new, I'd rather wait for l'Homme to get better.

So, one of my BFF's is taking half a day from her extremely important job to join me for lunch at Bistro Vue (we had our work Christmas party there last year and I've snuck back for lunch one other time!) ....and then she'll accompany me on indulging in a couple of new birthday purchases (not sure what I'll buy myself yet), before we head to the hospital and get l'Homme to sing Happy Birthday!

Then my gorgeous Brother who happens to be one of my favourite people to spend time with and L'Homme's BFF - they knew each other before I knew him - will join me for dinner (after I've spent some time with the Petits) at the phenomenal Collingwood eatery Gigibaba. The food is exquisite and I have had a hankering for the pommegranite salad and peppered steak since the first time I had it sometime last year.

Then I'm inviting all the lovely women in my life to head to Panama Dining Room in my beloved Fitzroy for a drink or nine before hobbling home.

All things considered, it sounds pretty perfect to me.

images found; 1. unknown...sorry 2. here 3. here 4. here 5. here 6. here

Michelle Belle's Guest Posterama!

image; galerie fricker, paul colin (hand signed), 1971; stephan t for galerie montmartre

Not only is Michelle Belle, our assistant extraordinaire, guest blogging on The Design Files all week - be sure to check out her out over there today...it's a tiny taste of vicarious retail therapy - but every Wednesday I include one of her posts from our Tumblr site. Quite frankly, this blog has turned into way too much of what la Femme is into, so we started another one that is authored by the Gen Y Wonder which is totally vintage poster focused and I love it!

Today's post is about two creative talents in two very different fields, both divinely determined and talented during one of my favourite eras.


One of the masters of Art Deco graphic design, Paul Colin (1892-1985) produced over 1900 posters, plus hundreds of book covers, theater sets and costumes. Inspired by Cubism and Surrealism, his designs were perfectly suited to the Jazz Age. Bold colours, geometric shapes and caricatured figures practically dance of the page.
Colin is best known for his work for La Revue Negre, a French troupe of musicians and performers, including the then little known Josephine Baker. Together they took Paris by storm, Josephine with her sensational ‘banana dance’, Colin with his colourful lithographic posters celebrating the energy and allure of this bewitching woman.
Using an image designed for La Revue Negre in 1925, this exhibition poster is seductive, sexy and simply irresistible. Jazz singers in the front, Baker swinging those famous hips up the back, we can only imagine the visual impact of a room of such designs. And oh to be there, among the glitz and glamor of the Jazz Age. I can tell you, I would be dancing the Charleston till the wee hours on the streets of gay 1920s Paris.

Serge Bloch Genius

image found here

image found boston.com

image found amazon books

muddy photo one taken on the i-phone late at night (!) but too important for me to leave out;

the text that accompanies it says 'i can't wait....to play with my kids'

muddy photo number two says 'i can't wait....to show them the world' - you'll get there l'homme

When Petit-Petit was born 2 and a half years ago, he was given a book which I fell crazy in love with. It was the kind of thing I wished I'd written such was its simplicity, creativity and power. Over the last eight weeks, I have been drawn to books, texts and illustrations that inspire me and leave me feeling that there is hope. So, of course, I turned to my little friend 'I Can't Wait' by Serge Bloch and Davide Cali. Each page has one line of text, a pen illustration and a red tapestry thread used in a variety of ways - a bow, an umbilical cord, a frilly collar, blood in an IV drip, a scarf; you get the picture. This little book had me smiling, crying and knowing that everything is OK with the world. So I was so thrilled that this talented illustrator has a blog that can feed me beautiful images on a regular basis and help me feel good about the world and the way it turns.

Michelle Belle continues to guest post over at The Design Files, please go and check it out. Today we are seeing the tiny arrondisement known as Montmartre through the eyes of our Gen Y wonder.

Delightful Monday - Michelle Belle on The Design Files

image; the lipton, anon, c1960's; michelle belle for galerie montmartre

Another week is upon us, what better way to spoil yourself than grabbing a cuppa, heading across to The Design Files to read the guest posts that Michelle Belle, our assistant extraordinaire has written? You will gain an insight into her recent trip with L'Homme to Paris; every day this week Michelle Belle's excitement as she discovers a new city and more about the magical world of vintage poster collecting will be on offer. 'Delightful' was the first term that came to mind when reading her musings, I'm sure you'll find the same.

I welcome every day at the moment, as that brings us one day closer to L'Homme's homecoming! So, have a great week everyone, be sure to pop back and see what this Femme is up to. x

PS. Lucy's intro and account of our situation is beautiful, I'd encourage you to read it here...

Walk Right Into This Mess

images; shelley t and stephan t

-pls note, the letters m-e-s-s are the first letters of our names...i love that it spells the word 'mess', cause that's life to a 't', wouldn't you say?!

If there's one thing that L'Homme is brilliant at, it is returning from trips away (whether it be a day one or an overseas extravaganza) with gifts for all. This particular Paris trip - yes, the poor doll....off to Paris every single year in search of beautiful paper goodness (!) - he was soooo excited to bring these pedestrian lights home. L'Homme thinks that the French pedestrian lights have attitude! As I can't take them to his current digs ie. rehab ward, I thought he'd want us to enjoy them at home, so I put them in our living room along with some other sentimental bits.

It was only as I was downloading the photos I'd taken (not particularly well, I might add, still getting used to the new i-phone, another gift from L'Homme; btw, he has intimated that he'd like to have his with him at hospital, despite not yet having the ability to say or text much!) that I discovered some photos he had taken back in 2006 of the French pedestrian lights to show me how cool he thought they were. Uncanny...

The little vignette needed some colour, so I grabbed one of my fave vintage vases which hold some vintage fabric flowers handmade made by the wonderful Pene Durston (I pass by her beautiful store every day on my way to and from the rehab unit) and given to me by a very dear friend when we were in the throes of 'will-l'Homme-make-it-through?' mode back in June.

Here's a little close-up so you can see how clever Pen is, I love her creativity. I love that these live in Chez Trbuhovich and remind me of a significant life event for our family.

And here am I trying to get artistic with my photography and failing miserably...

It should be noted that the little green 'go-bloke' was leaning on the wall temporarily, cause he is a bit unsteady on his feet...which is tempting for a 2 year old Petit...but I actually like him being back there, so that's where he'll stay. In other words, he's not going anywhere - boom, boom!

Guest Post; Michelle Belle Tumbles 3

image; Michel Quarez, Quarez Affiches printed 2009

I'm so proud of our little assistant extraordinaire, this blog she is writing is exceptional in it's content, knowledge and personality. Today Michelle Belle tells us about a posterist who we adore at Galerie Montmartre; he's a true contemporary poster artist.

Ahem, while the French continue to respect this medium, then I will always have a job...

Read on to learn of the modern master;

Just to prove to you this whole poster thing ain’t a thing of the past, today I want to show you a newie. The French still take great pleasure in the the design, production and practice of great poster art. Le Boss always bangs on about how even today there are posters all over Paris, and a recent trip there proved him right. In the metro, on bus shelters, in specially designed light boxes on the street, on walls, on buses, small format pamphlets etc, etc, etc. EVERYWHERE. The French still respect the poster. And the French still love their own poster artists.
Case in point: Michel Quarez. His style is unmistakably modern. Graffiti-style lines, bright fluro colours, kids in backwards caps and high-top sneakers. From gay rights to football, tourism to theater, Quarez has applied his unmistakable brush to it all. With posters from the 1990s to today, this is a thoroughly modern poster artist.
This poster was created for the 2009-10 retrospective exhibition at the Bibliotheque Forney in Paris. Another gallery devoted to posters, you can check out the exhibition on you tube. Damn lucky those Parisians are. Beautiful posters everywhere!

Oversize Art

When it comes to oversized art, I am a total convert; the larger the work the wider my smile! Nice big, whopping, brash artworks make such a statement, in my opinion - check out this tiny sample of oversize art-loving rooms which have caught my eye in blogland over the past couple of weeks.

images; (1) delikatissen; (2) la maison boheme; (3) a perfect grey; (4) the design files

Charlie Pickering and the Big Tie

image; big tie, rouille, c.1950; michelle belle for galmont

Charlie Pickering is an Australian comedian, author and television presenter. Here he is sitting in one of the rooms of his home with a delicious vintage poster looking pretty spiffy behind him. Hmmm, wonder where that came from?!!

I thought it looked gorgeous on the front of the Home supplement in the weekend Herald-Sun. Always such a pleasant surprise to see one of our beauties in the press.

Chez Trbuhovich Facelift - Ice, Ice Baby

There's a very strong possibility L'Homme will be living back at Chez Trbuhovich in about eight weeks - his rehabilitation after 'the incident' is going better than expected. All of a sudden I have a deadline, and quite frankly I feel no different than I did in the final weeks of pregnancy with that overwhelming feeling that if I don't get some things done around the house soon, they may not get done for a long time. So I am pressing ahead with some of the ideas that L'Homme and I talked about before June 22nd.
The bedroom, however, was never something on our 'facelift' agenda. You could say this is happening on a whim - how I make most decisions in my life!

My love for ice blue began back when I moved Petit out of the nursery and into his own room with the imminent arrival of Petit-Petit. I was as surprised as anyone when I chose a stroller for my then-toddler in that very colour. And then I wanted his bedroom wall colour to look like a clear blue day - that awesome blue that happens in Northern CA nine months of the year and here in Melbourne in Spring. Well folks, let me tell you - I nailed it! And everytime I go into that room, I never get tired of that decision.

The colour I had chosen for our bedroom, however, was starting to get a little old. The feeling of change has been sneaking up on me. It was also out of sync with the rest of the house. Then I saw it...

....right there in the circles of our gorgeous roman blind, which will remain, because I chose the Jane Churchill fabric on a yet another whim and it cost an arm and a leg!! So, I ran down to Porter's paints with my swatch and said, "that colour, right there - the ice blue" can you custom make that, but a shade paler?" Then I called Dave the handyman and booked him in.

And he is painting as I blog.

So I nearly fell off my chair when flipping through the latest Inside Out - with a glorious front cover, I might add - and found this page dedicated to ice blue tones. I thought, "Femme, you might have lots going on in your life right now, but boy do you have your finger on the decorating pulse...." OK, maybe my self-talk wasn't that grandiose, but I did give myself a teensy pat on the back!

Our bed has always been the biggest disappointment in our room. It's hideous. I held onto this picture as an inspiration with every intention of having our friend, Gordon (who happens to be the uber-talented partner of this gorgeous girl) custom-make a white one in the future....along with some other bits of furniture.

Then in the June Living Etc mag I noticed this bed, so - you guessed it - I ran down to Ikea and ordered it as an alternative to the ugly excuse for a bed we currently have.

I am so excited by this development, it is a budget-friendly, efficient facelift which fits into my life right at this minute. L'Homme will spend many weeks recovering in this little room, so I want to ensure it is somewhere worth hanging out.

Of course, there will be before and after shots a-plenty next week, can hardly wait!

images; 1 & 2. chez trbuhovich by lucy feagins;

3 lovingly scanned by my good self!

4. inside out mag, styling by vanessa colyer tay;

5. unknown - sorry;

6. living etc mag

Guest Post; Michelle Belle Tumbles 2

image; agis punsch, buhler; 1949 by stephan t for galmont

Our assistant extraordinaire is on tumblr, every week I share one of her posts, because she is clever and insightful and loves vintage poster art...and gives away a little something of the Galerie Montmartre culture at the same time!

When it gets cold outside, I go for tea. For me there is nothing better than wrapping my hands around a big, hot mug of strong, milky tea. No teacup, no saucer, no fancy flavours, just a simple teabag of black tea in a sizable mug is super. Everyone at Galmont has their favourite warmer-upper. Shelley T, she goes for a steaming hot chocolate, Le Boss a short black with one sugar, Sir James a creamy latte, Lady Diane a strong latte, no sugar required (she’s sweet enough).

And how about this towering polar bear here? Why, he goes for Agis Punch, with Vitamin C of course. If anyone knows about warming it must be our arctic friends, and boy does this steaming glass look good. You can just see his little paws just itching to reach out for his fix. No head colds for him this winter.

Fritz Buhler (1909 - 1963) was one of the leading poster artists of Switzerland from the 30s to the 60s, the director of his own graphic design studio in Basel and creator of many successful advertising campaigns. Most importantly, he was a founding father of the Aliance Graphique Internationale, an association of the world’s leading graphic artists and designers that was begun in 1951 and continues today. So from a clear headed artist to a clear headed furry mammal, let us raise our mug, tea cup, thermos, latte glasse and jumbo take-awayand say ‘Sante!’ to the hot drink this Winter.

Galerie Montmartre in Living Etc!

image; bergasol by villemot; living etc, june 2010; photo by prue ruscoe; styling by andrea millar

You all know my love for Britain's Living Etc mag....(I described it back in March as - 'my most beloved, most anticipated, most can't-believe-how-many-creative-people-there-are-out-there-check-out-how-they-live magazine'). Quite frankly, there is not one thing I dislike about it. So to see our beautiful posters in all their glory on the walls of the Paddington home of Simon and Paris in the June issue was soooooo exciting - I liken the feeling to what it must be for a vocal performer to hear 'themself' on the radio!

Such a shame they got our website incorrect - they got the Montmartre bit, just forgot the Galerie word at the front. But it takes alot more than that to bring me down. To be honest, Living Etc usually try to find the UK equivalent to products for their readers; so I was thrilled they even got half our name correct! I know where S & P got them (and now you do too) and that's enough for me.

For more images check here....and thanks to Jules for giving me the head's up before I'd had a chance to go through my copy.

Have a great week, everyone. x